


Debt

by hatrickane (dandelionwhiskey)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Banter, Bucky Barnes Feels, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, First Kiss, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 15:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6810373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelionwhiskey/pseuds/hatrickane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene from the jet ride: Bucky wonders what he deserves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debt

The jet hummed, near-silent, vibrating softly under their feet as they flew. The conversation died out a few minutes ago and everything was beginning to set in; where they were headed, what they’d been through. The anticipation of battle had them both strung taut, adrenaline coursing through their veins and making their fingers twitch.

“You kissed that gal,” said Bucky, because he was Bucky now, and Bucky wouldn’t let something like that go. Steve chuckled and Bucky saw his fingers flex a little on the steer. 

“Yeah, so?” He said, with that hint of defiance, with that hint of good humor. “What’s it to you, huh, Buck?”

Bucky grunted and shifted back in his seat. “All I’m saying is,” he said, “you kissed her.”

“She saved us,” Steve said, all simple and sweet. Like that was enough, like that was all it took. Bucky jutted his chin out and shrugged his good arm, the seat belt pressing into his chest where he was leaning forward a little too hard. 

“I saved you.” He kept his voice teasing, just south of serious, and earned another laugh for his effort. His stomach didn’t like the laugh this time; it twisted up with something like regret, like he oughta explain he wasn’t joking.

“You sure did, pal,” Steve continued, the laugh still peppering his tone, “and then you tried to cut me up with a helicopter blade.”

 _That wasn’t me_ was on Bucky’s tongue, but he knew he didn’t need to say it. Steve was the one who understood the most, probably even more than Bucky did. He held back the defense and rapped his metal fingers against the armrest. Steve waved him off dismissively. 

“Yeah, okay,” said Steve. “You saved me. You want a kiss, too, Buck?”

“Just think I’m owed one,” said Bucky, like a brat. He can’t see Steve’s face but for the widening of his cheeks, denoting the grin he was surely wearing. That made Bucky’s muscles ease and his stomach unclench and his fingers still on the arm rest. 

“It’s yours when you want it,” said Steve, voice just south of serious alongside Bucky’s, and that’s when the air got thick. Bucky could stand it; he’d survived worse climates, of course, but it was suddenly like he could smell the sweat on the back of Steve’s neck and hear the way he licked his lips, and Bucky was unbuckling from his seat.

Steve heard the sound of the buckle, because his posture relaxed and he turned his head to look at where Bucky had crawled up to the front of the plane. He was wearing the smile Bucky had expected, his eyes open and crinkled at the sides. 

“What,” said Steve, “you’re not gonna bank it for later?”

“Why would I do that when I got you right here?” Bucky could feel his own breath on Steve’s cheek and then Steve’s hand on his own cheek, and then, right there, his lips. 

The kiss was filled with a sweetness that made Bucky sore all over, an ache for a life that slipped through their fingers. Steve’s mouth is pliable and ready for Bucky, ready to accept the burden of years of torment and settle it across his shoulders so Bucky could stand tall. His good hand curled against the back of Steve’s neck, holding him close, and Steve’s thumb dragged along the curve of Bucky’s jaw.

Everything in his body began yelling at once, things about what he deserved and what he was owed and what he wanted, because what he wanted was to crawl into Steve’s lap in this tiny jet and kiss the hell out of him until they ran out of breath the share. But there was nothing about that scenario that he deserved, hell with what Steve would say. 

So, instead, with a peck or three or four, Bucky pulled back and scratched his blunt fingernails down the back of Steve’s neck. 

“You better make it out of this alive, Rogers,” was what he said, instead of the million other things he could think of. 

“A soldier doesn’t make promises like that,” Steve reminded him. 

“Then don’t promise me as a soldier.”

Steve regarded him for a moment after that. Bucky knew; Steve was a soldier down to his toes and back up, it was etched into his bones and his stupid warm eyes. Asking Steve to make a promise as anyone other than a soldier was asking the sun to stay set.

Then Steve said, “I promise,” and Bucky closed his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> I was literally falling all over myself to write this as soon as I saw the film. This is my first venture into this fandom, so I hope I do their voices justice!


End file.
